Commodity and metal prices have been on a freefall over the past two years as the global economy continues to experience challenges. The drop in prices particularly for metals is attributed to scale down of mineral purchases by China owing to poor performance of its industrial and manufacturing sectors.
China has been a top metal buyer before challenges hit its manufacturing sector about two years ago. This, and the challenges in the global economic arena are giving local miners sleepless nights as earnings continue to drop despite high cost of operation. This has led to an outcry among stakeholders who are calling for more support, saying high taxes and other fees levied on the industry were hurting the struggling sector.
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